Centre Christian Spiritualist Church

The Seven Astral Planes Explained

As spiritualists, it is our belief the first astral plane after death is called the first heaven or the lower astral plane.
This is a hell-like realm of purgatory and self-recrimination from which escape is very slow and difficult.
It may take hundreds of years of earth time for its inhabitants to accept their misdeeds, put them right
 and move upward. Here you would certainly find criminals and materially-obsessed individuals.
We are told that the demons and poltergeists, which readily interfere with life on earth, originate here.
 The "bad" parts of heaven are the closest to earth, which explains why religion wrongly equates the occult
 as a pact with the devil. Messages on Ouija boards, for instance,
often come from troubled souls in these near-earth realms.

The next astral plane, is called the second heaven.
Most people who die initially find themselves  in the second heaven or intermediate astral planes.
Viewed as a sort of resting point on the way from earth to the more rarified upper dimensions,
it is a thought-created universe that closely resembles an idealized earth. It’s inhabitants seem
to live in physical bodies, wear clothes and so forth – but of an etheric kind that would be invisible
to those living on earth.  Most attempts to communicate from heaven stem from here;
but because the inhabitants of earth are as yet unfamiliar with the afterlife
these communications can be confusing or wrong.

The next astral plane is called by many names, such as the third heaven, Summerland, or Marduk.
This plane is the closest thing to the Christian concept of paradise. The most inspired
and pure souls from earth pass directly here after death; most people, however, must strive
to reach it after a sojourn in the second heaven, where they assess their life on earth
and try to understand what they did wrong. It is from the third heaven that
rebirth back on earth supposedly occurs – although the decision to go back and try
again is allegedly an individual one, and some may opt to forsake material life altogether
and move into the higher spiritual dimensions. Some of the most accurate and
most inspirational messages received via mediums are said to originate here.

The fourth heaven is the mental and causal planes.
Here, most of the trappings of materialism have gone. It is here that selfless individuals
work together to bring spiritual enlightenment to the lower dimensions and earth.
Supposedly all great inventions, religious and moral progressions, spiritual leadership and so
on come from here, inspired by beings who were once on earth but have had the opportunity
 to increase their talents in the afterlife. A few rebirths to earth do take place from this
higher place: great teachers are sent back for special reasons.
Spirit guides who talk through mediums are often in this dimension as well,
bringing their enhanced knowledge to earth.
 

The fifth heaven is the next astral plane.
Reaching this dimension is difficult, for it is devoid of a physical state and aspired to
by great religious figures, from Jesus to Buddha. Even those in lower dimensions view it as
most of us still on earth imagine heaven – a distant, magical, unknown place.
 

The sixth heaven is the next astral plane.
This dimension is cosmic consciousness, where the unity of souls is perfected and a kind
of universal being exists. This may be close to what we think of as God, but it is even
less understood by those in the lower dimensions.

The seventh heaven is the next astral plane.
To reach the seventh heaven one has to step not only beyond material and physical reality
but beyond mental and individual reality as well. It is simply not possible to define what
this ultimate level may be, but it is supposedly the goal of all individual souls.
Everything we do, on earth and in the higher dimensions, is directed toward that
final transformation. For there is evolution of the soul in just the same way as there
is evolution of the body, or indeed of all life, back on earth.

Please take a moment to sign our guest book.
I would love to hear from you with your comments and suggestions.